


mom, i'll be quiet (it would be just to sleep at night)

by Teddydora



Series: unconnected riordanverse one shots [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: And daddy issues, Angst, Bonding, Gen, One Shot, Post-The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson), featuring: mommy issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28509735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teddydora/pseuds/Teddydora
Summary: Thalia bit her lip, she really didn’t want to be having this conversation. Couldn’t it wait a few centuries until she’d rid herself of those coils of guilt, anxiety and anger, festering in her stomach, that came out to play every time her past was brought up?Artemis asks Thalia about her past.
Relationships: Artemis & Thalia Grace
Series: unconnected riordanverse one shots [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129154
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34





	mom, i'll be quiet (it would be just to sleep at night)

“So, Thalia,” Artemis opened her bag, “Tell me about yourself.”

“Like what, my lady?”

Instead of being exposed straight to the hunt, like Thalia had expected, Artemis had told her she would introduce her to her new duties in a more private setting - which in this case was a one on one hunt, apparently. 

The grass was soft beneath her as she sat, laying the wood for a fire. Their day’s catch - a couple of rabbits (now skinned, courtesy of Thalia and her brand new hunting knife) - would be cooked on it. 

“Well, what was your childhood like? I don’t tend to keep tabs on demigods - even not my own half-siblings - but as my lieutenant - I should probably know more about you.”

“Yeah, probably,” Thalia bit her lip, she really didn’t want to be having this conversation. Couldn’t it wait a few centuries until she’d rid herself of those coils of guilt, anxiety and anger, festering in her stomach, that came out to play every time her past was brought up? 

“My mom, she was an actress - on TV - and I guess Zeus saw her one day and…” she gestured vaguely to herself. Artemis nodded in understanding. “Um, I don’t ever think she was the right woman to date a god or have his children- child,” she quickly corrected herself. Artemis raised an auburn eyebrow at her slip but still said nothing, “Yes, she shouldn’t have had a god’s child, especially not that of the kind of the gods, it was a big ego boost for her, too much of one,” Thalia moved her leg to stabilise herself and brought out the hunting knife again, sharpening a piece of kindling into a point.

“So she wasn’t… the best of mothers, she was always trying to catch his attention - sometimes she actually did and he’d show up and she’d scream at him and make demands and-” She caught herself before she started crying or worse, brought up Jason. No one needed to know about Jason, not Luke, not Annabeth, no one. It wasn’t necessary. He was dead and gone and she could never reach him. 

“Did she drink?” Asked Artemis softly, taking the knife from her hands and holding them. They were small, a child’s hands, really, but they were comforting too. She swallowed thickly, trying to dissolve the lump growing in her throat and continued.

“Yes. She couldn’t take… she lost her fame and prestige so drink was her favourite comfort. Well, I say she lost her fame. Not really, she was still famous, just for the wrong reasons, you know?” 

“Yes, I think I understand. Was she… attention seeking?”

Thalia scoffed, “It was more than that, there was hardly a weekend where she didn’t pull some kind of stunt or another - leaking things to the press, drunk driving, battery and assault three seperate times,” Thalia brought up three fingers for emphasis, “She beat up three people and nearly went to jail for it every time but the jury was weird and declared her innocent. No doubt dear old dad’s doing,” she glanced at the sky, half expecting to be smote for that level of insolence but it was clear, stars dancing on, Zoe’s constellation beside the moon, running with it.

“Like, any other child should’ve been removed from their home for that kind of parent raising them but we never saw hide nor hair of CPS.” 

“That does sound like Zeus’ doing - at least I hope so - as protector of children, I ought to be more vigilant to their treatment, and if this is commonplace I will need to intercede.” She gripped Thalia’s hand tighter, staring right at her, silver eyes full of emotion, “I am so sorry for not protecting you.”

Thalia’s insides squirmed as she pulled her hands back from her half-sister, “It’s fine, really.”

“It’s really not, but continue.” Thalia hated the way Artemis was looking at her with pity and sympathy. It did no good now, she was okay  _ now. _

She decided to take the plunge, she’d said so much already, why not the rest? “When I was about seven or so, Zeus returned. He was different from the times I’d met him but it was definitely him, but more… austere, regal. And he spoke Latin a lot,” she added as an afterthought. Artemis looked like she was going through a flurry of emotions, mostly confusion, but also worry. A lot of worry. 

“Then, Jason came. I raised him for the most part, mom was even more nuts when dad left  _ again _ , honestly I don’t even know why she was surprised - gods never stay with mortals. Jason was great, even if he did dumb things some times - one time he tried to eat a stapler and he got this scar on his upper lip, right there,” She traced where it was on her own face.

“Zeus has another child?”

“Not anymore.” Thalia sighed deeply, trying to control her breathing, as well as her emotions. It felt surprisingly good though, to talk to someone about it. Keeping it bottled up since she was nine - it was hard. 

“When Jason was two, we went on a picnic. I thought - hey! Mom’s trying for once, she’s getting her act together at long last! This is great! I was wrong. It was at the ruins of this creepy house but Mom left the picnic basket in the car so she sent me to get it and when I came back, Jason was gone.” She broke off, tears taking over completely, making her eyeliner run and her eyes go red. Sobs wrenched themselves up from her chest, making her heave. “She said - she said that Hera had taken him and he was as good as dead. That he was dead. That my little - my little brother was dead and gone.” 

A pair of arms enveloped her. Thalia looked up in surprise to see Artemis hugging her. “I am  _ so  _ \- I can’t imagine how that must feel for you. It sounds truly awful.”

Thalia laughed wetly, “It was. When we got back home, I called the cops on her. Without fail they found fuckall and refused to arrest mom and she turned on me, saying I was a traitor - no daughter of hers. So I left. Being a demigod on the streets - it’s hard. Especially as a child of the Big Three, and especially on my own. I was smart though. I won my battles and in return dad sent Amaltheia to help guide me. She led me to Luke, safehouses, friends, food, Halcyon, Annabeth, Grover. Luke and I were a good team. Not good enough to stop him from poisoning me though, but still. We killed the monsters, stole food, kept guard while the other was sleeping. Basic friend stuff.”

Thalia smiled wanly, “Sometimes I still can’t believe he’s a traitor. That my friend Luke, is the same person as my enemy Luke. They’re nearly incompatible in my mind. Eventually we ran into Halcyon. Your nephew, actually, cursed by Apollo to be locked in his house and lure other demigods to their deaths against his will. Poor guy. Awful curse. He sacrificed himself to save us and then we met Annabeth.”

Artemis pulled back so she was sitting across from Thalia, “I remember my brother telling me about Halcyon. I always thought it was an unfair thing, to curse someone like that for saving a person’s life, a child’s especially. It would’ve been more prudent to remove the gift, or suppress it.”

“Yeah, that would’ve been way less ethnically ambiguous.”

“I do like Annabeth though. She was too attached to the son of Posiedon to have been a good hunter though. I offered it anyway to annoy Aphrodite, but she turned it down. Athena was  _ so _ irritated by that.” 

“Really? Nice. After that, there was a fortnight before we met Grover. I got some weird dreams of Hades though. Good to get the heads up about the army headed my way though. Grover ran into us just outside one of our weapons stashes and we took him with us to meet May, Luke’s mom. She was- she was creepy as Hades. Luke never told me much about her before but he said he hid from her sometimes when she had an “attack”.”

“Yes, May Castellan is haunted by the spirit of Delphi. She tried to become the Oracle once, but it never took and she was driven insane, apparently. Hermes is miserable, even now, about it.”

“Hmm,” Personally, Thalia didn’t care whether Hermes cared or not if his ex was insane, but it might be useful information for later, perhaps. 

“For all he tried, Grover never had the best sense of direction. The monsters were able to catch up on us. If I hadn’t stayed back to fight the monsters off, all of us would’ve been dead.” She shrugged. Artemis was watching her very carefully. 

“I was fine with dying, if I could save my friends. I- I never asked to be turned into a tree. Things would’ve been way less complicated if I had been allowed to just die and pass into Elysium.”

“You would’ve rather died?”

“Maybe you wouldn’t get it because you’re immortal but,” Thalia bit her lip, “When I came back - everything changed. It’s a whole new world to me. Luke is a traitor now, Annabeth and Grover have their own lives now - everybody else has had the last five years to live their lives while I was a tree. That’s the main reason I joined your hunt. Hopefully this’ll work out better than, well, everything else I’ve had so far. 

“I’m sure it will.” Artemis looked up at the dimming sky and setting sun, “It’s beginning to get dark, we should finish the fire and eat, and finish this later.”

“Okay,”

Artemis slid her eyes over to Thalia, “But you will never be treated like that - like _ any _ of that - here.” She laid her hand above her heart, “I swear it on the River Styx.”

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Class of 2013 by Mitski for... reasons
> 
> I hope you guys liked this, please leave kudos or comments if you did!
> 
> Check me out on tumblr @mallorykeenwasmylesbianawakening


End file.
